Calcutta 1981: The City, its Crisis, and the Debate on Urban Planning and Development

The city of Calcutta, with its three million inhabitants, is a part of India’s largest conurbation, Greater Calcutta, which has a population of some seven million. As a result of immigration from the rural areas of West Bengal and from other parts of India, as well as of massive influxes of refugees after the partition of Bengal in 1947 and the creation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Calcutta has had to grapple with particularly acute problems of urbanisation and employment, including a rate of unemployment estimated at about 15 per cent of the labour force in 1971. These problems are penetratingly discussed, with a wealth of supporting statistical and other evidence, in this study. The author explains some of the difficulties that exist. Especially revealing is his analysis of the varied composition of Calcutta population and of the attitudes of different sections of it towards particular types of employment. Of special interest, too, is his argument that development of Calcutta rural hinterland by modern agricultural methods can not only stem the drift from the surrounding countryside to the city but also increase opportunities for employment in Calcutta’s already well developed engineering industries by creating a demand for agricultural equipment. This is the first of a proposed collection of ILO case studies of urbanisation and employment in selected cities in developing countries.